The present invention relates to a beam steerer, and more particularly to a reflective surface rotatable about a fulcrum with a focused beam directed onto the surface offset from the fulcrum such that the focused beam may be reflected off of the surface and directed through an aperture.
Optical communication relates to the transmission of speech, data, pictures or other information by light, and in this regard, optical communication has greatly enhanced global communication in today's society. For example, optical communication has helped to enable communication between two satellites orbiting the earth.
Generally, during the past 50 to 80 years, the development of optical communication has accelerated as the importance of world wide communication has increased. However, this development was impeded prior to the 1960s because a suitable light source was not available that could be focused. Prior to the 1960s, the only suitable light source was from a plurality of independent atomic radiators and even these light sources could not be focused into a narrow beam of light to be effective. During the 1960s, with the demonstration of the first laser, the focusability problem was overcome and communication in the optical wavelength was made possible and has since then greatly increased.
Since the 1960s, optical communication between two land based communications stations (i.e., fixed points) was made possible as well as optical communication between two satellites (i.e., moving objects). With respect to the land based communication stations, a laser beam carrying data may be pointed to a land based communication station to transmit data to such station. However, optical communication between two satellites was more difficult to accomplish. The reason is that the laser beam could not simply be pointed to the receiving satellite because the two satellites are continually in motion and as such the transmitting satellite as well as the receiving satellite was constantly in flux. In other words, the line of sight of the transmitting laser and the receiving satellite would constantly become misaligned such that the optical communication between the two satellites would constantly be interrupted.
One solution is to develop a laser beam that could track the movement of the transmitting satellite as well as the receiving satellite. In this regard, an inner outer gimbal was used to solve this problem. The prior art inner outer gimbal comprises an inner ring and an outer ring, and a mirror mounted to the inner ring. The inner and outer rings rotate about two axes that are perpendicular to each other. As such, a laser beam could be reflected off of the mirror and directed to a moving receiving satellite. Further, the inner outer gimbal enables the receiving satellite to receive a transmitted laser beam at different angles. Without the inner outer gimbal, the transmitted laser beam would have to be directed to the receiving satellite such that the transmitted laser beam would enter the receiver mounted to the receiving satellite in perfect alignment. However, with the inner outer gimbal, the transmitted laser beam could be reflected off its mirror to align the transmitted laser beam to the receiver.
Nonetheless, technological advances in other areas such as flight, global communication, communication systems utilizing satellites as well as other commercial ventures have created a need for devices that direct laser beams such as the inner outer gimbal to be become smaller, lighter, more reliable, quieter and have a smaller foot print through a conformal window.